HENRY NORMAL
PRODUCER
Henry is an award winning producer, writer and comedian who has created and produced some of the most successful British comedies of the last twenty years.
In a previous life he was a poet, touring the world and once performing at a poetry convention with a paper bag over his head.
After finding his way out of the paper bag Henry formed Baby Cow Productions with Steve Coogan, and has since produced a daily online sitcom Where Are The Joneses, the animated comedy series I am Not An Animal, as well as cult phenomenon The Mighty Boosh, and the BAFTA winning comedy drama Gavin and Stacey.
Henry has also written for tv and film including the acclaimed Mrs Merton Show and The Royle Family with Caroline Aherne, The Parole Offficer – a feature film starring Steve Coogan, and the classic sketch series The Fast
Show.
Henry grew up in Nottingham when the legendary Brian Clough’s ‘Forest’ swept all before them. Now living in Brighton, he says he’s a fan of football, passionately supporting whoever’s on the telly.
SIMON NYE
WRITER
Simon is one of Britain’s most successful writers having written more than twenty television shows. The BBC 1 hit Men Behaving Badly was the most repeated comedy show of the nineties, running for seven series and picking up numerous awards. It also ran for 30 episodes in America, where he was Executive Consultant.
His other hits include Is It Legal? – winner of the Best ITV sitcom at The British Comedy Awards, the BAFTA nominated Hardware, How Do You Want Me? starring Dylan Moran for BBC 2, Wild West starring Dawn French and Frank Stubbs Promotes with Timothy Spall, as well as Beast and the family comedy The Savages for BBC 1.
He’s also written numerous dramas including Beauty with Martin Clunes, Tunnel of Love with Jack Dee, and Pride – an Emmy nominated film featuring real life lions and computer animation. Television adaptations include The Railway Children for ITV, My Family and Other Animals for BBC 1, and Pollyanna, shown on PBS in America.
Simon has written four pantomimes – the perfect experience for writing about football.
DAVID QUANTICK
WRITER
David has written for some of the most groundbreaking British comedy shows including Smack The Pony, The Day Today, So Graham Norton, and the controversial Brass Eye.
Other writing credits include Harry Enfield’s Brand Spanking New Show, Harry Hill’s TV Burp, and the animated series Angry Kid for television; the Sony nominated That Mitchell and Webb Sound and The Now Show for radio, and Junkies – the world’s first internet sitcom, visited by more than a million people since it was posted.
David is the author of a number of rock and comedy biographies. His book Grumpy Old Men was one of the top three best selling humour titles in 2004. He’s also a journalist for The Word, Esquire and Q magazines.
Current projects include writing a four-part story for Dr Who, a series for HBO and the development of two feature-length animation films with Aardman.
DOMINIC HOLLAND
WRITER
Dominic is a Perrier Award winning comedian and has been described as “the UK’s master of observational comedy”, perhaps inspired by years of watching Brentford Football Club.
His Radio 4 stand-up series ‘The Small World of Dominic Holland’ received a Comedy Heritage Award.
He has written for Clive Anderson, Harry Enfield and Bob Monkhouse, and collaborated with comedy legend Richard Curtis for Comic Relief.
Dominic has published two novels, ‘Only in America’ and ‘The Ripple Effect’ – a comic tale of football, politics and doughnuts, and contributed a range of short stories and columns for national newspapers and magazines.
He continues to perform stand up comedy across the UK and regularly appears as a panelist on Have I Got News For You and the anarchic Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
TIM SEARLE
ANIMATION PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR
Tim knows nothing about football – he supports West Ham. But he knows everything there is to know about animation.
In 1989 Tim set up Triffic Films, producers of animation and graphics for dozens of hit shows including Have I Got News For You, The Catherine Tate Show, and Ideal.
In 2001 he helped create 2DTV with producer Giles Pilbrow & writer Georgia Pritchett. Together they made five series of the award winning topical sketch show 2DTV for ITV 1, and the controversial music promo for George Michael’s Shoot the Dog.
In the same year he formed Baby Cow Animation with Steve Coogan & Henry Normal, producing I Am Not An Animal, a surreal animated comedy drama series for BBC 2. Tim continues to run Baby Cow Animation, producing cutting edge animation for television.
MIKE WALLNER
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
A lifetime Arsenal fan and part-time minder for his Dad on game day.
When he’s not breaking up the fights instigated by his hooligan father,
Mike is a television producer and writer. Over the last two decades he has produced several hundred programmes across all the major terrestrial channels and Sky. Projects have included five series of ‘How Do They Do That?, a primetime entertainment series for BBC 1,Open House With Gloria Hunniford, a live talk show for Channel 5, as well as the reality show Big Brother On The Couch and property series A Place By The Sea for Channel 4.
Mike recently completed a children’s novel The Nosey Porkers and The Theft of The Thing, which is currently in the hands of agents.
BILL FREEDMAN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Bill is a fanatical follower of the Arsenal and attends all home games. He made the transition from North American football to the ‘beautiful game’ 43 years ago when he arrived from Canada.
Bill has been in show business ‘forever’, having produced plays in London’s West End, Broadway, and in his native Toronto.
He was also the managing director of a group of West End theatres including the Albery and Wyndhams and, with his family, founded the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
These days, when he’s not yelling at people to ‘sid-down’ at the football he is Chairman of Black Diamond Television, a global production company.
His greatest productions are his three children and seven grandchildren, all but one an avid Arsenal fan.